Reparations
by misanoe
Summary: Fic involves most major characters. Focuses on Uotani and Kyo.
1. Default Chapter

_*To Ginny as promised.*_ *** "Arisa," a voice called from upstairs as she idly flipped through the pages of her school book, trying to concentrate on their assignment, "phone for you." Somewhat relieved at the welcome interruption, she reached for the phone next to her on her desk. Covering the receiver, she called out to her father. "I got it." Listening into the telephone, she waited until she heard the click on the other end. "Hello?" Arisa could hear the soft breathing of the person on the other end and frowned in irritation at the continued silence. About to rant about creepy little perverts, the distinctive voice on the other end immediately silenced her. "Uotani." "Kai," she dully greeted, staring at the wall in front of her with a heavy look of resignation. *** Ignoring the sullen boy next to him, Yuki wordlessly walked down the paved sidewalk towards the market with Tohru's grocery list in hand. More then likely she was now patching up the Kyo shaped hole in their screen door. His face softened as his thoughts focused on Tohru. They had left Tohru in a state of panic after their physical excursion left the kitchen in disarray, and incidentally, their dinner. He winced, remembering how Kyo's misdirected kick made the pot of stew airborne. The mixture of surprise and horror on Shigure's face before it landed on his head was almost worth this time he had to spend in Kyo's company. The grating sounds of an empty soda can bouncing against the concrete street drew him out of his reflections. Almost. Sparing a glance at Kyo, he wondered if the cat was deliberately kicking the can to annoy him. There was something about Kyo's belligerent manner that could really raise Yuki's ire. As if he was reading Yuki's thoughts, Kyo began to grumble about how he was forced to keep the company of dirty mice and so on. Yuki sighed. "We have to go to the market because of your extreme idiocy." The last word was shot out deliberately to offend and Yuki waited for some inane reply from his loud-mouthed companion. There was nothing. Frowning, he turned to look at Kyo. Kyo had stopped walking, his eyes narrowed in concentration to stare beyond Yuki's right shoulder. "What are you doing?" Yuki said. Following Kyo's line of sight, his eyes landed on the distant figures of two girls in what seemed like a heated discussion. "What is it?" He knew Kyo's animal allowed him to see farther then the human eye, and there was nothing out of the ordinary that Yuki could see to explain Kyo's uncharacteristic behavior. "It's Uotani," Kyo said. He continued to stare at the two girls. "And?" Yuki prompted in exasperation, reminded once more of how annoying Kyo could be when he put his mind to it. "She's with a gang member," he stated. Immediately Yuki's brain perked, and once again he looked at the figures, this time with a much more critical eye. Before he could suggest they make their way over, Kyo was furiously striding towards the two. Yuki sighed once more before following Kyo. "We shouldn't be eavesdropping on Uotani-san," Yuki whispered to Kyo, stopping behind him at their safe distance from the arguing pair. "Are you crazy?" Kyo hissed. "She's consorting with gang members." "It's not our business," Yuki said. "Shut up," Kyo answered. "I'm trying to hear what they're saying." Before Yuki could reply, he heard the heated words of the redhead drifting to them through the wind. "Don't get involved in this Uotani." Her voice was low and the veiled threat in her posture raised the hairs on the back of Yuki's neck. "You left so this has nothing to do with you." "What makes you think I'm involved?" Yuki had never seen Uotani like this. Her voice was icy and hard, blue eyes glinting darkly at the girl in front of her. "Do you think I'm stupid?" the redhead hissed in reply. The sneer on Uotani's face answered her question and the redhead's jaw tightened in anger. There was a rage in her eyes that impelled Yuki to intervene before their conversation got physical, but the lazy drawl beside him beat him to action. "Oi, Yankee, what are you doing here?" Both girls instantly broke their staring contest to look at Kyo in surprise. Following his lead, Yuki stepped out in full view and walked towards Uotani. "Who's this?" "An old friend," the redhead answered tightly. Her eyes were calculating as they measured up first Kyo, who took a place slightly behind Uotani, then Yuki. "Is that so," Kyo replied in a voice that did not hide his obvious disbelief at her curt statement. "I didn't know Uotani here had friends." "Go away," Uotani said. She looked at them both, her eyes hard and telling them to get lost. Kyo went on as though he hadn't heard her and began to scrutinize the redhead. "Tohru's making dinner for all us tonight," he casually stated to Uotani beside him. "You did remember, right?" "Yes." Uotani answered after several long seconds, when it became apparent Kyo was not going to be leaving any time soon. "I'll be there." "We're going to the market to get dinner, Uotani-san." Yuki intervened, trying to diffuse the hostile tension swarming around the three. "Uotani, I'll see you around." The redhead cut in. Looking at Yuki and Kyo in disdain, she glanced at Uotani with a meaningful expression on her face before she departed. Her parting words were obvious that their private conversation would be continued elsewhere. The air was still for a minute, all eyes trained on the redhead's figure until she became a tiny moving dot in the horizon. "What the hell are you doing, you stupid Yankee?" Yuki sighed. "Uotani-san," he said before Kyo could continue, "would you like to accompany us back home? I'm sure Honda-san would be glad to see you early." Her voice was distracted, eyes slightly unfocused on a figure no one could see. "I have some things I need to take care of." About to leave, she paused, her eyes flittering back to Yuki and Kyo. "You didn't see this." "What do you mean we didn't see this?" Kyo started to rant. "Do I look blind?" "If you are having problems Uotani-san, we would like to help," Yuki said helpfully. "The only way you can help is by forgetting what you saw," she said. Her eyes were serious as she looked at the two. "I don't want Tohru-chan and Hanajima worrying over nothing." "Is it really nothing?" Yuki asked carefully, studying Uotani's face. She looked at him. "It's nothing." Yuki nodded then turned to face Kyo. "We're running late. We have to get Honda-san the ingredients for tonight's dinner so she can make it in time." Turning back to Uotani, he smiled. "We'll see you later today, Uotani-san." Before Kyo could protest, Yuki gripped his arm and dragged him away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kyo said, trying to pry his arm out of Yuki's hand. "Let it go. This is Uotani-san's business. We have no right to interfere." "Fine," Kyo grumbled. "Just stop touching me." Yuki was more then willing to grant that request. Discreetly he watched Kyo in his peripheral vision as they continued on their way. There was a look of thoughtfulness mixed with defiance in his face that made Yuki wonder if Kyo was really going to let this go. *** 


	2. Chapter Two

_GIIIIIINNY_  
  
***   
  
Tohru smiled happily at the gleaming kitchen. She looked at the clock on the wall, frowning a little in concern when she realized what time it was. Before she could ask Shigure what could be keeping Yuki and Kyo for so long, she heard Yuki's voice as he came through the front door.   
  
"Honda-san, Shigure, we're home," he said, carrying several large plastic bags in both hands. Kyo entered behind him in complete silence.   
  
"Thank you so much," she exclaimed at the two as they walked in the kitchen and settled their purchases on the counter.   
  
"It's our fault for ruining your hard prepared dinner Honda-san," Yuki answered. "We're sorry for putting you through so much trouble."   
  
Honda blushed, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly with her right hand. "Oh it's no trouble," she answered. "How was your trip?" She glanced at Kyo, who had been leaning impassively against the wall throughout their conversation. Glancing back and forth between the two, she noticed the air around them seemed more stilted then usual and she wondered if something had happened while they were out.   
  
"Nothing to talk of," Yuki said with a smile. "Would you like help preparing dinner?"   
  
"No, no." She said, instantly abandoning her thoughts to discourage Yuki from helping with their meal. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking, Yuki-kun."   
  
"Anything for Honda-san," he said warmly with a small smile on his face.   
  
The abrupt sound of Kyo standing up off the wall interrupted Yuki and Honda's conversation.   
  
"Call me down for dinner when your friends get here," demanded Kyo before he left the room.   
  
"Yes," she called after him.   
  
Honda tilted her head quizzically at the door Kyo left through. "Yuki-kun, did something happen when you two were out?"   
  
"Eh…?" said Yuki. He seemed distracted with the purchases, deftly drawing them out of the plastic bags and putting them away.   
  
"There seems to be something bothering Kyo-kun," said Honda. She quickly moved towards Yuki to help.   
  
"He was like this all day," Yuki replied. "He seems to be in one of those 'moods'."   
  
Honda nodded. Maybe Yuki was right- although she made a point to seek Yuki out later this evening to make sure he was okay. With her mind now cleared, she began to hum to herself, happy to prepare dinner for the Sohmas and her friends.   
  
***   
  
Momiji tilted his head curiously while looking for Honda's missing friend. "Tooohru," he called out, "where's Uotani?"   
  
At the mention of her name, Momiji's sharp eyes saw Yuki and Kyo shoot a stealthy glance at each other. They looked worried.   
  
Honda didn't seem to catch their guilty looks and smiled fondly at Momiji from her seat. "I'm not sure, Momiji. She could be running late."   
  
"That's odd," he casually observed. Momiji made a great show of pouting while carefully continuing his discreet observations.   
  
"I know!" Momiji smiled as though a random thought had just entered his head. "Kyo can tell us where she is," he exclaimed cheerfully, knowing Kyo's volatile anger tended to blind Kyo into giving up more information then Yuki, whose steady complacent demeanor made it difficult for Momiji to read him.   
  
Kyo glared at Momiji. "Why are you asking me, rabbit? How would I know where that stupid Yankee is?" he growled menacingly at Momiji.   
  
"Kyo's so meeeean," Momiji wailed. His eyes were wide and glossy from unshed tears.   
  
Momiji was saved from Kyo's heated reply when a piece of cabbage landed smack on Kyo's cheek.   
  
"Don't pick on Momiji," Hatsuharu calmly stated from his end of the table. "He's just asking an innocent question."   
  
Momiji stuck a tongue out at Kyo, "Gyeeeee."   
  
Kyo's right eye began to twitch as he looked from Momiji to Hatsuharu. "You both are idiots!" his voice erupted as he shot up from the table. "Why am I even hanging out with you annoying people?"   
  
Shigure's chopsticks shot out and snatched the food that was on Kyo's unprotected plate. "Bwahahahaha. Ah, for me?" he asked, popping it in his mouth without waiting for a reply. "It's so good," he sighed in content.   
  
Kyo whacked Shigure on the back of his head. "Why don't you eat your own food, you crazy old man?"   
  
Shigure looked mournfully up at Kyo from under the sleeve of his kimono. "But you left it alone and it looked so cold and lonely." His eyes were ridiculously bright.   
  
"Kyo-kun," said Honda. "I can get you more food."   
  
"Psh, don't bother. I'm leaving you freaks."   
  
As the rest of the party watched Kyo storm noisily out of the room, Momiji was carefully watching Yuki, trying to find a hint to the secret they shared.   
  
***   
  
"Ah. Uotani is missing once again," said the professor. He looked at the classroom, his gaze focused on Uotani's desk. Absently his index finger pushed the bridge of his glasses a bit higher. "It's been over a week now. Has anyone heard from Uotani?"   
  
The class was silent, few students paying attention to the teacher as he went off on this tangent. He could hear the creaking of the old seats, the noises of papers shuffled around as they waited for him to start his lecture.   
  
She's probably sick, he thought to himself. Uotani seemed to have the propensity of becoming ill and had racked up more sick days then any single student. Still, for all her tough posturing, Uotani was an excellent student and it was uncharacteristic for her to miss this much school without calling in for make up work. "Does anyone here know Uotani's residence? I would like someone to volunteer to drop off the work she's missed," he said.   
  
Expectantly his head turned towards Tohru so he was mildly surprised when he heard another voice pipe in before anyone else could speak. "I'll do it."   
  
Tohru looked as confused as the teacher, and they both shifted their gazes to the red haired boy staring lazily out the window at some unseen point. This was odd, the teacher thought to himself. He hadn't known Uotani and Kyo were close. He filed that small piece of information, along with the other facts about his students, for future reference.   
  
"Thank you, Kyo, for volunteering. See me after class to pick up her work." With that said, he turned to the rest of the class to get on with today's lesson.   
  
His glasses were sliding down the bridge of his nose again. He sighed, slightly annoyed and making a mental note to pick up a new pair of glasses later that week. Once again, he pushed the black plastic high up between his eyes. Busy with that action, he missed the strange expression in Kyo's face as he continued to stare mindlessly out the window.   
  
*** 


	3. Chapter Three

*Dearest Ginny, today I decided to post some of your fanfic up because I was bored. I hope you like it because I am suffering. Do you hear that, SUFFERING! Psh- make me work off my debt with a fic. Ginny is meeean. :P *  
  
***  
  
"You serve them," said Hayako. Though Miya had only been working at the coffee shop for a few months, she knew Hayako had the tendency to twirl her hair around her finger when she was nervous. It drove her crazy to no end.  
  
"Why me?" shot back Miya, staring apprehensively at table three. "They're sitting in your section."  
  
"You're the newest," said Hayako as though the answer were obvious.  
  
Mia wanted to glare at her. There were times Hayako could be a real self- righteous bitch. She always pulled out the seniority card when she wanted her way. Like working at this dive for ten years was something she should be proud of, Miya retorted in her head. Instead of voicing opinions that would get in her trouble, she continued to politely refute Hayako's claims. "It doesn't matter, they're sitting at your table. That makes you their server."  
  
"Hey," a voice barked out from that very table. "Can we get some fucking service here?"  
  
Before Miya could act, Hayako gave her a little shove and disappeared into their back room. Bitch, thought Miya once again, as she forced herself to gather the nerve to approach the table occupied by the small group of girls. "Can I help you?" she hoped her voice was much steadier then her knees.  
  
One of the females had malicious look on her face as she eyed Miya up. "Took you long enough."  
  
Don't panic, don't panic, Miya breathed deeply into her head. They were in a public place so they couldn't attack her. Right? "I'm sorry ma'am," she said, trying to temper the urge to flee.  
  
As though the previous speaker read her thoughts, she casually stood up and invaded Miya's personal space. "I don't like waiting," her voice was low and threatening.  
  
A pretty blonde with a white surgical mask covering the bottom half of her face sighed. "Stop fooling around, Yuna. Just get what you want and leave her alone."  
  
The girl who had been harassing Miya up to a second ago narrowed her eyes and looked at the blonde with obvious anger and resentment. "Don't tell me what to do Uotani. You think because Kai asked you back you can come here and order me around?"  
  
"No," her face was impassive as she answered the brunette. "I can tell you what to do because I can kick your ass. Now shut up, sit down and stop wasting my time." She looked up at Miya from her menu. "Just get us plain coffee."  
  
"Yes ma'am." Miya inwardly cringed as she saw the other girl seethe in anger. She looked like she was about to attack the blonde girl so Miya took this as her cue to edge away from the table.  
  
"Yuna."  
  
Discreetly Miya looked at the girl who just spoke. She had shoulder length black hair and like the rest, her eyes were darkly rimmed with black eyeliner. Her eyes were soulfully large, dark brown pupils that could have belonged to a puppy. Unlike the others, she had a small tattoo on the outside corner of her right eye that distinguished her as the leader of their group. Looking up at the girl she called Yuna, her voice was filled with a simple authority and she quieted her was a look.  
  
"Whatever," said Yuna. Her voice was acidic and she roughly kicked down her chair before leaving the now deathly quiet shop. The small bells on the door chimed as the door swung furiously on its hinges.  
  
After a moment, the conversation in the store began to resume.  
  
"You shouldn't provoke her."  
  
Miya resumed her eavesdropping from a safe distance after she deposited the order to Kana. Though the girls scared the hell out of her, she was curious by nature and couldn't help herself from listening in on their private conversation.  
  
Miya studied them from behind the coffee machine. The blond girl called Uotani was pale, eyes a light blue that contrasted greatly with unnaturally thick lashes and harsh black outlining her eyes. Miya estimated they were both still in their mid to late teens, the heavy makeup not quite able to conceal the youthfulness of their faces.  
  
"I don't owe her anything," the blonde said. She flicked a strand of hair away from her eye and looked meaningfully at the girl with black hair.  
  
"I didn't ask you back so you could isolate me from my gang."  
  
"I know why you asked me back," she replied. "And we both know Yuna is going to have a problem with me no matter what I do. She doesn't like me. As long as I'm around, she'll find some reason to pick a fight."  
  
"Do you blame her?"  
  
"Not really. I can't very well blame her for being and idiot. Though, someday she's going to do something dangerously stupid. She's a liability you should cut loose before her sheer idiocy gets the better of her and the people around her."  
  
"She's been with us for years," the black haired female answered dryly. "Though I know how hard it is for you to grasp the concept of loyalty."  
  
"I'm here now, aren't I," she said. "What more could I give you, Kai?"  
  
The black haired girl was quiet as she contemplated her companion.  
  
"Miya." So enraptured with the conversation, she didn't hear the footsteps creeping up behind her and the voice that hissed her name right behind made her jump in surprise.  
  
"You scared me half to death," she said after she composed herself and her heart started beating at a normal rate. She turned to look at Hayako waiting impatiently with two cups in her hand.  
  
"For them." She nodded towards the table Miya had been spying on. "Creepy, aren't they," Hayako commented.  
  
Mia nodded her head. Hayako had a way of overpowering other people's views and Mia always found it easier to agree with anything the opinionated waitress had to say, rather then risk involving herself in one of Hayako's 'lectures'.  
  
"Why can't they go somewhere else," she continued to complain. "This neighborhood is going to hell. I remember when we first started there were never such customers."  
  
Mentally Miya urged Hayako forward, wanting to get back to the girls at the table. "Maybe you should give them their order," Miya cut in after a minute. "Their coffee is getting cold."  
  
Hayako looked at the cups in her hands in surprise, realizing she had been talking for some time. Wrinkling her nose in consternation, she shoved the cups in Miya's hands. "You do it. It doesn't look good to the customer to switch servers."  
  
Right, Miya mocked Kani in her head. She had expected an answer somewhat along those lines and deftly received the coffee mugs. "Of course," she mumbled respectfully. Turning around, she was disappointed to find the table vacant.  
  
"Chh." Miya could hear Kani's voice from her spot. "Just like those gangsters, cause a disturbance and leave without paying. Really, someone should find a way to control those criminals."  
  
Miya looked at the door wondering what the two girls had been talking about. It was unlikely she'd ever find out. The bells on the door chimed once more and she saw a perfectly ordinary customer enter the coffee shop. She recognized him as one of the regulars. He tipped well.  
  
Before she could move towards him, Kani beat her and was ushering him into her section.  
  
*** 


End file.
